Balancing the Budget and the American Dream

Connecticut’s Blunder of the Century

Death Penalty Repeal

It happened last Friday the 13th (4/13/2012). The unthinkable happened. In the aftermath of the conclusion of the Cheshire Home Invasion trials where both Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky were sentenced to death for their most heinous crimes against the Pettit family, both houses of the general assembly passed unthinkable bill to repeal the state’s death penalty, making life in prison with no chance of parole the maximum sentence. Governor Malloy is going to sign it into law this coming Friday, April 20th. They passed the legislation terming it proactive though I think it a stretch of the definition of that word. What it means is that both Hayes and Komisarjesky can still be executed as that was the law of the land at the time of their sentences.

OK, water is wet, isn’t it? Mobil is the detergent gasoline (early 1970s slogan before the merger with Exxon); all gasoline with the exception of white gas typically for marine applications contains detergent. We already have something in the Constitution called the ex post facto clause that says just that: if they pass a law in North Dakota on Monday, April 23rd that says you cannot ride a bicycle on Sundays and you rode you bicycle near the Bismarck state capitol building last Sunday, April 22nd, you cannot be arrested and charged with anything because the law of the land did not prohibit it at the time. How does the legislature’s pro-activity add any teeth to the repeal? Part of the problem with Connecticut’s death penalty law of the very recent past is that the appeal process was unlimited. It took twenty years to execute serial killer Michael Ross and it looks like he will be the last man to get that lethal injection in the Nutmeg State. Proactive, ex post facto, what’s the difference? The appeal process was unlimited then, now that the law is off the books, I doubt anyone is even going to try, the powers that be will just let the appeal process fester; poor Dr. Pettit. Hayes and Komisarjesky will always have access to visits by their family members. Dr. Pettit has to wait until St. Peter calls before he will be reunited with his wife and daughters—doesn’t sound like justice to me.

State Senator Robert Kane, who represents my district in Oxford, CT was a staunch supporter of maintaining the status quo and having a death penalty for the most heinous crimes; and he wanted to limit the appeal process to seven years. That is how you give teeth to capital punishment—USE your death penalty. Connecticut should be more like Florida and Texas; it WILL deter crime if the global implantation process is engineered properly. If one has been convicted of first degree (premeditated) murder or for killing a police officer in the line of duty by a jury of his or her peers, that’s enough— seven years, is plenty of time to overcome errors and discrepancies. Especially with the high tech crime prevention computers and forensic techniques of the twenty-first century.

Remember, to make it in a limited government arena with opportunities replacing entitlements, the added freedom with government being limited magnifies our responsibility level tenfold. We have to punish our bad guys (and gals). The Bible does say an eye for an eye. That also means a life for life; I am not suggesting using the death penalty in any crime that does not involve loss of life. I am tempted to suggest it for rape, but if the penalty for rape is exactly the same for murder, the rapist is more likely to kill [his] victim.

Anyhow, it was a fatal mistake for Connecticut. It will cost more to keep them in prison until they die a natural death than if you had a death penalty, streamlined the appeal process, and used it. And what about Treyvon Marton in Florida? Had Treyvon been killed by a Connecticut-ite, there would be even less chance for justice. I hope future governors, state senators, and state representatives will reconsider this someday.